


All I Have Left

by TheSourFruit



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Single Parents, Slow Burn, Uncle!Rhys, jack won't be here until ch 3 i'm sorry, parenting, tags and warnings to be added as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-07-28 12:07:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7639612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSourFruit/pseuds/TheSourFruit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys enrolls his niece into preschool, and soon ends up spending more time than he would have liked with her new friend's stupidly attractive dad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for minor character death. That's really all this chapter is, but it is skippable. I just wanted to give a little background before I jump in.

When Rhys had first met his niece, she had cried the whole day. She screamed and choked on her tears as Rhys bounced and shushed her in an effort to calm her down. Today, hers were the only dry cheekbones in the room. She giggled and cooed in Rhys’ lap while everybody else tried not to be too obvious while they glared at them.

When Rhys had first gotten to hold her, she was in a pastel green onesie that had been _way_ too big on her. Her feet didn’t even reach the end of the booties sewed into the bottom. Now, she was in a small black dress and shiny dress shoes that she kept kicking off onto the floor. Everybody who stopped to see her had a comment about how nice she looked.

When Rhys’ sister had first told him what her unborn daughter was to be named, he had to ask her to repeat it a couple times over the phone, and even spell it. She’d laughed and told him that it was a family name from her husband’s side, and that she liked it. Months later, each person who asked for her name smiled fondly when they heard it, and had some story for Rhys about their relatives who’ve shared the name. One woman even pinched the small baby’s cheek and told her she should be proud to be called by it.

When he had first been told he would be the baby’s godfather, he’d actually been excited, but the title hadn’t really held any weight at the time. “If, God forbid, anything should ever happen to us, I think you would be the perfect person to care for her,” his sister had explained.

_God forbid._

Her husband had joked that of course the decision had _nothing_ to do with the fact that Rhys was her only family left, or that his only family was incredibly distant and only seen maybe once a year.

But here they all were now, chatting in small groups and only occasionally glancing in Rhys’ direction.

Before Rhys had left after his first visit with the new baby, his sister had made him promise that he would visit them regularly. She even held out her pinky and left it there until he wrapped his own around it and said that he would.

But school had gotten in the way, and Rhys would say the same thing, week after week, when she would call and ask. “Maybe next weekend.”

Now, as he watched the group at the front of the room that was hugging and passing around a box of tissues, Rhys decided he may need to rethink his priorities.

\---

When the service was finally at an end, families began piling into cars. Many of them were stopping home to change clothes and grab the food they’d prepared for the get-together they were having that Rhys had not been invited to.

Which was fine, Rhys told himself. He was sure he’d have plenty of schoolwork to catch up on when he got home, anyway.

The social worker he’d spoken to earlier approached him almost immediately. She smiled politely and offered her condolences as Rhys helped the small baby in his arms settle into the back of her car.

“I’ll send you an email with the address and phone number of where she’s staying,” she assured him.

Rhys nodded, and knelt down to help fasten the car seat where his niece was dozing off.

“Goodbye, Gortys,” he whispered as he brushed back her small brown curls and kissed her on her forehead. “I’ll come back for you as soon as I can.” He wrapped his pinky around the small, curled digit on her left hand. “I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had this story planned for SO LONG, but I've only just now had a chance to start it. Here goes nothing.


	2. Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys brings Gortys home.

The drive had been longer than he’d expected, and Rhys could hardly believe his eyes when the GPS in his car finally displayed that he was approaching his destination. He found a nearby parking spot and took a few deep breaths as he looked around at the neighborhood. There were “children at play” signs on either side of the street, and bikes leaning against fences all around.

He stepped out of his car and approached the house that matched the address he was given. He had hardly rung the doorbell before the door was flung open and a child stood in the doorway.

“Are you Gortys’s Uncle Rhys?” the kid asked.

Rhys raised his eyebrows. “Y-yes, I am,” he replied. “Is there… an adult here that I can speak to?”

“ _Mom!_ ” he screamed as he turned to the back of the house. “ _Gortys’s uncle is here!”_

A woman soon appeared in the doorway and scrambled across the room to quickly grab Rhys’ hand and shake it firmly. “Uncle Rhys?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Rhys smiled.

“Gortys is back here. She’s just packing up the last of her things.” The woman led him to a room upstairs with a couple of bunk beds and some dressers. One of the drawers was open, and Rhys immediately recognized the small figure packing clothes into a big red suitcase.

“Gortys?” Rhys could hardly stop himself from running over and bending down to scoop her into his arms. “Oh, you are _so_ much bigger than you look on Skype!”

“You’re big too,” Gortys replied, and her little voice was _so clear_ when it wasn’t coming through a speaker that Rhys had to actually choke back a sob.

“Do you need any help?” Rhys sat down on the floor next to her as she shoved what was left in the drawer into her suitcase.

“No, I’m done.” Gortys closed the top and crawled along the side as she zipped it shut. Rhys reached in to tuck some loose bits of clothing in before the zipper could get caught, but otherwise let her do it herself.

“Um…” Gortys stood and walked to the closest bed and stood on the tips of her toes to grab something from it. She pulled down a stuffed robot that Rhys had actually sent to her not long after she entered foster care. “Can he stay with me?”

“Sure, he can ride in the car with you,” Rhys said as he rose to his feet. “I can’t believe you still have that.”

Gortys simply nodded as she tucked the robot under her arm and began dragging her suitcase behind her.

“Let me help you with that.” Rhys grabbed the suitcase by the handle, and offered Gortys his right hand as they made their way back to the front of the house. She turned his fingers around and bent them, scratching at the metal and looking at them closely before holding on tightly. Rhys noticed the way she eyed the rest of his arm, and even how she stood underneath to try to peek up into his shirt sleeve.

“Bye, Gortys!” A group of kids came running to give Gortys one final hug before she left. She let go of Rhys long enough to return a few hugs, then held onto him again. She turned to wave as they headed out the door.

Gortys stood patiently and watched as Rhys loaded her suitcase into the trunk of his car. When he opened the back door and knelt to lift her into the car seat, she bounced on her feet and lifted her arms. She was no sooner buckled in than she was hugging her robot and resting her cheek on its plush head.

“Now, it’s a bit of a long ride, but I _did_ pack some snacks. So if you get hungry or thirsty, just speak up and I’ll pass something back to you.”

“Okay.”

“Oh and if you need to use the bathroom, _please_ let me know so I can stop somewhere.”

“Okay,” Gortys repeated as she stuck her thumb into her mouth and slid her eyes shut.

Rhys chewed on his bottom lip as he tried to remember what his parenting books had said about thumb-sucking. It either _was_ bad or it was falsely _believed to be_ bad, but he couldn’t remember which. He supposed he could always look it up after he got back home.

For the first hour of the trip, Rhys didn’t hear much from Gortys, aside from some light snoring and an occasional sleepy groan when she would wake up to stretch. Eventually, he noticed her reflection in the rearview mirror rubbing her eyes and yawning.

“Hey, how’re you holding up?”

“I’m okay.”

“Okay, good.” Rhys smiled at her reflection in the mirror. “Just let me know if you need something.”

She nodded and restlessly dangled her legs from her seat.

“Uncle Rhys?”

“Yes?”

“…Do you build robots?”

Rhys thought for a moment. “No, not really. I mean, I learned a little in college, but I mostly just program websites and computer programs now. Less… _physical_ things.”

“Oh… How much of you is a robot?”

“Just my arm,” Rhys laughed.

“Oh.”

“But when I was younger I used to build little robots out of my Legos,” Rhys remembered. “That was before I even knew I wanted to work in programming. I would hook them up to my computer, and they would move or make noise when I told them to. I even built a little car that moved when I touched it.”

In the mirror, Rhys noticed Gortys’ eyes grow wide. “Your Legos moved?”

“Yeah, they did!”

Gortys kicked her legs excitedly and bounced her robot doll by the arms. “I wanna build a robot!”

“Yeah? What kind of robot are you building?”

“I wanna build a robot that, um…” Gortys bounced in her seat as she thought. “That can dance!”

“ _That_ sounds fun! I’d want one of those robots,” Rhys lied.

Gortys chuckled and hugged her stuffed toy.

\---

It was dark by the time Rhys finally pulled into his driveway, and Gortys had long since fallen asleep. Part of Rhys wished she was awake to see the new swings and the slide Vaughn had helped him set up in the yard, but at least she wouldn’t fuss about going to bed.

She started to squirm awake as Rhys was walking her through the living room, so he set her down on the couch.

“Welcome to your new home!” He sang excitedly.

Gortys sleepily looked around the room, and blinked slowly.

“You think you can stay up long enough for a bath?”

She simply nodded and slid her thumb back into her mouth before lying down on the couch. Rhys knelt down to kiss her head and headed for the bathroom. He let the water run as he grabbed Gortys’ suitcase and headed to her bedroom. As soon as he opened it, though, he realized all the clothes inside were a wrinkled mess from the way they’d been stuffed inside. He sighed and scooped them into his arms to drop them off in the laundry.

“Come on, Gortys. Let’s get to the bath.”

She yawned and slid off the couch to take Rhys by the hand and be led to the bathroom. She hurried to the tub and stuck her little fingers into the water. “ _Ah!_ ” She jumped back and pulled her hand back to herself. “That’s too hot!”

“Oh, uh.” Rhys dipped his hand into the water, which probably _was_ a little hot for somebody so small. “It’ll cool down.”

“How long?”

“We’ll find something to do.” Rhys followed Gortys, who was headed back to the living room to climb up onto the couch. “Hey! Do you want to play a game?”

“Yes!”

“Okay.” Rhys turned on the game console and handed Gortys one of the controllers. She scooted off of the couch to plop down on the floor, closer to the television. When the game started, she jumped up again in excitement.

“You have all the guys!” she exclaimed, pointing to the DLC characters at the bottom of the character select screen. “I wanna be _him!_ ”

“Okay, c’mere.” Rhys sat on the floor, and she climbed onto his lap with her controller. “Hey, don’t get used to this, alright? This is the only time I’ll let you stay up and play games.”

“Okay.”

\---

The fluffy towel that Rhys had wrapped around Gortys trailed behind her as she followed him to her new bedroom. She stood in the center and spun in a circle, taking in her surroundings. Rhys had shown her the room over a video call when he’d first finished it, but it was different in person.

Rhys pulled some new pajamas he’d bought for Gortys out of her dresser and began yanking the tags off with his teeth. Gortys ran over and bounced excitedly as Rhys helped her get dressed. She ran to the mirror and giggled at the way the clothes hung off of her body. “I look so little!”

“You’ll grow into them,” Rhys responded as he stood to pull back the covers on her bed, where her robot was already waiting for her. She walked over and let herself be lifted into bed.

“Get lots of sleep, okay? We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

“A big day?” Gortys asked as the blanket was tucked under her chin.

“We’re going shopping in the morning, and then going to meet your preschool teacher to get you enrolled.” Rhys hadn’t really been very happy at the thought of sending her off to school so young, but Fiona had _insisted_ that it was for the best. Gortys had seemed excited about it over the phone as well. Rhys supposed that if he _had_ to take her to school, he couldn’t really leave her in better hands than Fiona’s.

“So I’ll see you in the morning?” Gortys asked quietly.

“Of course you will.”

“And then what?”

“Then… we’ll get ready to go.”

“And then I’ll sleep here again tomorrow?”

“Yes, you’ll be sleeping here every night.”

“Forever?” Gortys looked up to meet Rhys’ eyes.

“Yes.” He bent down to give her one more hug for the night. “Forever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack will be met in the next chapter, I promise!


	3. Jack's Daughter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (forgive me, i've apparently forgotten how to write.)

“Look, look!” Gortys pulled Rhys by the arm to a wall of crayon drawings, and turned to bounce on her feet. “Guess which one is mine!”

Each one looked relatively the same. Scribbled pictures of families standing on grass with a small house in the background. “Is it… this one?” Rhys pointed to one featuring a tall man standing next to a small girl. The man had yellow and black scribbles for a right arm, and the girl had circle pigtails and a triangle dress.

“Yes!” Gortys hopped excitedly.

Rhys scooped her up and walked through the door to the outside playground, where her classmates were running around and playing. She squirmed at the sight of her friends, not stopping until Rhys had set her back down to watch her take off in the direction of the swings.

“Rhys!”

He turned to see Fiona making her way toward him quickly. She flipped through a stack of papers in her arms and handed him a large stapled packet.

“Oh… Thank you.” He skimmed through pages of calendars, charts, and paragraphs of text. It held just about everything he needed to know about Gortys’ upcoming year of preschool, and was honestly most of the reason he’d shown up today. “Impressive. You type this up yourself?”

“I did.” Fiona smiled proudly and bowed sarcastically. “Only took me all summer.” A family making their way outside caught her eye, and she patted Rhys on the arm. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Rhys nodded and strode to a table where the rest of the parents (or mothers, he should say) chatted happily around an assortment of snacks and drinks. He was quickly greeted by smiles and outstretched hands, followed by several introductions.

“Which one’s yours?” one woman asked. She was dressed in a pair of capris and a tee-ball shirt with her son’s number on the back. She nodded toward the playground.

“Oh, um,” Rhys’ eyes scanned across the playground until he spotted Gortys in line for the slide. “My niece is the girl in the gray dress. That’s Gortys.” She saw him looking and waved excitedly, so he waved back.

“Oh,” the woman turned to face him again, “So you’re her uncle?”

“Y-yeah,” Rhys took a deep breath as he anticipated whatever question she was clearly about to ask. But as her mouth opened, her eyes caught on something to his right and distracted her. He heard a groan from another mom and turned to see a small, black-haired girl in a blue dress making her way outside. She was walking slowly and holding onto her arms nervously as she glanced behind herself for a moment.

“Jack’s daughter,” Rhys’ new friend explained as he turned back to her. “Poor girl.”

“She’s cute,” Rhys commented as he watched his niece run across the yard, laughing energetically as she made her way to the girl. She hugged her tightly before grabbing her hand and running back to the playground. The smaller girl’s shy expression turned into a bright smile as she followed.

“Oh, she is!” the woman agreed defensively. “And sweet as can be, too.”

“Somebody needs to take that poor thing away from him,” another woman said in a hushed, almost pitiful tone. “I mean, _look_ at her! Did he even _try_ to brush her hair today?”

Rhys glanced up at the child and noticed that her hair was, in fact, a bit of a mess. It was pulled back into a ponytail, but a few missed strands hung in her face. She held it back with her hands as she played.

One mom scoffed loudly. “A girl that age needs a mother.”

The statement was followed by a round of nodding heads and chuckles that made Rhys’ stomach drop. He turned his gaze to Gortys, who was taking her turn at hopscotch and talking to her friend. Her hair looked fine, sure, but he supposed the mothers didn’t know how much time he’d spent with Yvette, learning how to properly brush it and style it. The skirt of her dress swung stiffly at one side from where he’d sewn it up himself. She’d torn it while playing at home, and actually _cried_ when Rhys suggested throwing away her favorite dress. So he’d borrowed Fiona’s sewing kit and stayed up late that night, following internet guides until the dress was finally fixed.

The mothers fell silent suddenly, and from the corner of his eyes Rhys could see somebody else make their way outside, an adult this time. He turned slightly and noticed a man, who he assumed to be the Jack they had been talking about.

Jack didn’t _look_ like a dad. He had on a pair of faded jeans and a deep V-neck, and wore a pair of reflective, red sunglasses. Maybe his daughter’s hair was a mess, but _his_ was styled back perfectly in a way that seemed to defy gravity. He looked more like somebody who would be playing a dad on TV, or posing in a Father’s Day edition of a department store catalog.

Rhys didn’t notice he’d been staring until a tiny hand grabbed his own, interrupting his thoughts. He looked down at his niece, who was trying to pull him with her.

“Come on, come on!”

“O…kay. Where are we going?” Rhys followed Gortys as she dropped his hand to run faster. She stopped at the smaller set of monkey bars on the playground and climbed onto the ladder.

“Help me across!” She scrambled to the top and waited for him to catch up to her. He hurried to her side and held onto her, holding her up as she reached for the next bar.

About halfway across, Rhys felt his right arm jolt, and his grip on Gortys’ side involuntarily loosened slightly. He noticed her look down at him worriedly, and offered her a reassuring smile before shifting his position so that Gortys was sitting on his left shoulder. He let his right arm fall to his side, and groaned as his fingers started bending and twitching without permission.

Gortys finally made it to the end, and Rhys set her on the ground. “Hey, why don’t you go play with your friends, and I’ll be right back?” He started backing toward the school’s entrance. “You can find Miss Fiona if you need anything, okay?”

Gortys frowned, but nodded. “Okay.”

Rhys held onto his mechanical arm as he powerwalked past the group of parents and made a beeline for the coat rack. He struggled a bit as he tried to fish his keys out of his jacket with one hand, in such a hurry that he didn’t even hear anybody follow him in.

“Hey!”

Rhys jumped in surprise and turned to see Jack standing behind him. His sunglasses were now pushed up to the top of his head and he was smiling in a way that looked almost amused.

“Uh… hi.”

“Did your arm crap out on you?” Jack asked with just a hint of sympathy in his face and voice.

“Oh, yeah, but it does this all the time,” Rhys answered in the most friendly way he could while in such an embarrassing situation. “I just have to detach it and reboot it, I’ll be fine.”

Jack’s eyebrows knitted together as he watched Rhys fumble with his keys. “What, so it can do this again in a few days?”

“…Um.”

Jack rolled his eyes and walked past Rhys to grab a briefcase that was leaning against the wall. “I can fix your arm.”

“Oh, well. Thank you, but I have the tool to take it off in my car, actually, so-“

“And _I_ have one in here,” Jack stated matter-of-factly as he held up his briefcase and grabbed Rhys by the good arm. “C’mon.” He led him outside and plopped down on the same bench he’d been sitting on, motioning for Rhys to do the same. Rhys sat down slowly, suddenly aware that all eyes from the snack table were suddenly on him.

“Don’t mind them,” Jack muttered, clearly noticing the way Rhys had glanced over at the mothers. “Catty bitches, every last one of ‘em.” He pulled his sunglasses back down to his nose and grabbed the detaching tool from his bag.

“O-oh. Okay.” Rhys took the tool from him and looked up to make sure Gortys wasn’t looking at him before he pulled up his sleeve and began taking off his arm. She was okay around him while it was off, but something about watching him remove it _terrified_ her. He’d learned that the hard way.

He felt his arm release from his shoulder, and he bent it at the elbow before pulling it the rest of the way off and handing it to Jack.

Jack took it without hesitation, as if being handed an arm was an everyday occurrence. He threw the detaching tool back into his briefcase before pulling out a USB cord and plugging it into his laptop, which he’d fished out and opened as Rhys was removing his arm. He flipped the arm and pulled open the rubber stopper over the charging port before Rhys could even show him where it was, and plugged the other end of the cord into it.

“Uncle Rhys!” Gortys ran across the yard with a large basketball in her arms and stopped to bounce excitedly in front of the lowered basketball hoop. “Watch me!” she called as she faced the hoop, then glanced over her shoulder to see if he was looking. “Are you watching?”

“Yeah, I see you!” Rhys called out as he shifted in his seat, pulling his sleeve down to cover the empty socket on his shoulder.

Gortys threw the ball into the air and hopped in place as she watched it bounce at the rim and fall back to the ground. She screamed and chased it, bringing it back to where she’d been standing. She turned to look at Rhys again. “I can do it! Are you still watching?”

“Yes, I’m watching,” Rhys assured her.

She tossed the ball up again, and gasped as it balanced on the rim for a moment before falling in the wrong direction. She huffed at it, and frowned a bit as she stomped over to retrieve it.

“That was so close!” Rhys called out to her. “You’ve almost got it,” he encouraged as he leaned forward and rested his chin on his one hand.

Gortys walked back to her spot and bounced the ball off the ground a few times. She gripped it firmly in both hands before she jumped and launched it into the air. It bounced twice on the rim before it slowly fell through the net. She squealed and hopped in a circle excitedly before turning back to her uncle. “Did you see it?”

“I saw, honey! Good job!” Rhys answered before he felt something heavy fall into his lap. He looked down and saw his own arm lying face-up across his legs, with the palm open so the fingers fell to the side.

“There’s your other hand, if you wanted to clap for her,” Jack stated before looking over to Rhys with a smirk, clearly amused by his own joke.

Rhys sucked in his bottom lip and simply stared, not coming up with a good answer to that.

“Oh, re _lax_ , Uncle Rhys.” Jack slid the arm off of Rhys’ lap and turned his attention back to his laptop, which Rhys noticed had some sort of installation screen with a loading bar on display. “I was just messing with you.” The playful smirk crept back onto his face, and he turned to Rhys again when suddenly his daughter appeared at his side.

“Daddy!” she quietly tried to get his attention while pulling at his arm.

“Angel, sweetheart,” he turned his head slightly, but never actually faced her. “ _What_ did I say about interrupting?”

His daughter, Angel, looked thoughtful for a moment before letting go of his arm. She bounced and swayed slowly in place, suddenly looking worried.

“Uh, Jack?” Jack tilted his head back in Rhys’ direction. “I think she really needs you.”

“Oh, _for Christ’s sake,_ Angel.” Jack picked her up and balanced her on his hip. “Don’t unplug anything,” he called back to Rhys as he carried his daughter into the school.

“Gee, why not?” Rhys answered in a monotone voice. Jack either didn’t hear him, or he was ignoring him. He turned the laptop slightly towards himself and let his eyes fall onto the screen. The installation bar was the only window that hadn’t been minimized. “Prosthetic Upgrade – 70%” At least it was almost done. The laptop itself, Rhys was almost sure, had to be a work computer. It was sleek and clean, and the desktop looked to be clear of any personal programs or files. The wallpaper was what Rhys recognized as the Hyperion logo, which would describe Jack’s apparent knowledge of Rhys’ arm.

Angel suddenly ran out the door and made her way back to the playground while wiping her hands on her dress. Jack strolled out behind her, hands in his pockets. Little wet handprints marked the front of his jeans as well, and Rhys tilted his head slightly as he made his way over.

“She does it every time,” Jack answered before Rhys could even ask. “She calls me her towel, thinks it’s hilarious.”

“It _is_ pretty funny,” Rhys replied, to which Jack simply shook his head. “So… You work for Hyperion?”

“Oh, aren’t _you_ the clever one?” Jack answered with a mockingly impressed tone in his voice. “Yes, I work in programming. And can I just say,” he held up Rhys’ arm as he spoke, “that it actually _physically_ pains me to see such quality hardware being treated so poorly.”

“I don’t treat it poorly,” Rhys responded defensively. “I treat it just as well as my other arm.”

“…Right. I can see that.”

Rhys buried his left arm, which was covered in small scrapes and bruises, between his thighs. “I’m just a little clumsy, is all.”

Jack offered a friendly smile and nodded understandingly. “So, what do you do?”

“I’m… actually also in programming. Privately. Different companies, mostly small businesses, contact me and say ‘this is what I want my website to do’ and I’ll fix it up for them.”

“Ah. So you get to be a stay-at-home uncle as well.”

“…I guess? Sort of.” Even if it meant spending up to half as long getting his job done because he had to keep an eye on Gortys at the same time, working from home was definitely a perk.

Jack pulled the cord out of Rhys arm and pushed the rubber stopper back into place before handing it over. “See if that works a little better for you.”

Rhys accepted the arm and balanced it on his legs as he pulled his sleeve up over his shoulder. From several feet away, Gortys had stopped playing to watch him, looking rather concerned.

“Gortys, why don’t you go back to playing?” Rhys called out, but she ignored him.

Jack suddenly stood, and walked out toward the girl. “Hi! Gladys?”

“Gortys,” Rhys corrected.

“Gortys!” Jack repeated, and spun her by the shoulders so her back was to Rhys. He sat down on the shredded rubber in front of her, making playful conversation and keeping her distracted. Angel came jogging over and sat down on one of his knees as he talked, excitedly joining in on their conversation.

Rhys quickly popped his arm into the socket and waited for it to connect. He tried to wiggle his fingers until finally they responded, allowing him to give Jack a thumbs-up from the bench.

Jack stood and walked away, stopping once he realized his daughter wasn’t following him. “C’mon, Angel! Time to go,” he called, maybe a little too loudly.

“But, Dad, I…” Angel fidgeted with her hands nervously.

Jack huffed and pulled his keychain out of his pocket, walking away slowly. “Okay, _bye_ , Angel! I’ll see you at home!” he cried out, jingling his keys in his hand as he waved.

Angel looked nervously from Gortys to her father. “Daddy, wait!” She ran to catch up to him, and he picked her up with one arm. She whined lowly and incoherently into his shoulder until he growled a stern “I don’t want to hear it,” into her ear. He stopped at the bench to stuff the laptop back into his briefcase and pick it up with his free hand.

Gortys hurriedly climbed into the seat, standing to reach up and give her friend one final hug. Jack released his daughter to let her hug back, and held her hand to help her back onto the ground.

“Goodbye, _Uncle Rhys!_ ” he called as they made their exit. “Looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't, with a clear conscience, make jack a "good" dad. so i'm taking every little thing that i've seen parents do that pisses me off, and i'm having jack do it.
> 
>  
> 
> been in this weird slump where weeks feel like days and months feel like weeks and all i do is sleep. so it didn't really occur to me just how long it's been since i've updated anything. hopefully i'll be better soon. so if this seemed forced that's because, well, it was. i'm sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This work is totally unbeta-ed, so if you see anything wrong, please let me know.


End file.
